By Ezra Sihite on 05:39 pm Sep 02, 2014
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/jokos-transition-team-meets-vp-boediono-policy-pointers/
Jakarta. Advisers to President-elect Joko Widodo met with Vice President Boediono on Tuesday to hear his policy suggestions as they prepare for a smooth handover of power from the outgoing administration next month.
The delegation was led by the transition team’s chairwoman, Rini Soemarno, and included members Anies Baswedan, Hasto Kristiyanto, Andi Widjojanto, Akbar Faisal and Eko Sanjoyo.
Andi said after the one-and-a-half-hour meeting that several important topics had been discussed, including “empowering government agencies [and] the division of labor between the president and the vice president.”
“We paid close attention to Boediono’s input,” Andi said at a press conference. “We also discussed macroeconomic issues and the 2015 state budget.”
The team also asked the vice president for advice on social welfare programs.
In the meeting, Andi said, Boediono also stressed the importance of improving maritime transportation and of further developing the Papua region.
Boediono paid special attention to the sea toll plan proposed by Joko to better connect the nation’s many islands, Andi said. Boediono suggested the team work with the
Transportation Ministry, as the program would require advanced port infrastructure development, he added.
High logistics costs have long hampered Indonesia’s economic development and competitiveness. But experts say that Indonesia, as a maritime nation, should be able to ensure reliable and cost-efficient sea connections across the archipelago without the need for extensive road networks.
Boediono also suggested that Joko continue with the current government’s existing programs for at least the first few months of his term in office, saying it was inadvisable to push through new programs into the draft 2015 state budget the government has submitted to the House of Representatives.
“The vice president advised [the transition team] not to push through entirely new programs to start on January 1; it’s probably unrealistic because the [2015 state] budget deliberations are almost complete,” Boediono’s spokesman, Yopie Hidayat, told the same press conference.
“It’s better to incorporate [new programs] during the budget revision instead of hastily pushing them through now.”
There was no mention of whether the officials discussed the ballooning fuel subsidy, with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono refusing to raise subsidized fuel prices and leaving the needed but highly unpopular move to Joko to deal with.